By CURTIS ROCKWELL/Sports Director

MOSS POINT — The Moss Point girl’s basketball team is heading into the postseason on a bit of a roll.

Not only did the Lady Tigers clinch the top seed in the Region 8-4A Tournament that begins Monday in Leakesville as well as the automatic berth in the Class 4A South State playoffs that goes along with it earlier in the week, but they then capped the regular season off with a big 39-29 over arch-rival Pascagoula Friday night in the only meeting of the year between the two teams.

The Lady Tigers head to Greene County at 17-9 overall and finished up a perfect 8-0 in league play. Moss Point has won seven of its last eight games.

“The Pascagoula game is always hectic. There are so many emotions and distractions, all of the hype tends to make kids play different early on.” MPHS head coach Ethan Porter, in his seventh season at the helm of the Lady Tigers, said. “When we finally settled down and played our game, I knew we would be ok. It’s good to get a win heading into our district tournament. Those games are more important.”

Against the Lady Panthers, Moss Point dominated the second half after trailing slightly at halftime thanks to an explosive 17-point third frame thanks in part to seven points in the period by Landyn Johnson including a 3-pointer.

Lady Tiger senior standout Jordyn Ford, who scored five points in the third quarter, then added six more in the final frame as she made sure that Moss Point’s “Senior Night” activities coming up after the game would be a celebration.

Pascagoula got five first period points from Khyliah Moore, including a 3-pointer, and in the process jumped out to an 11-6 lead entering the second stanza.

And despite a triple from Lady Panther Samaha Johnson in that quarter, Moss Point’s Zaria Nettles scored six first half points to help the home squad slightly cut into the deficit resulting in an 18-16 PHS advantage at intermission.

Ford tallied a game-high 17 points to lead MPHS to the win, while Johnson added eight with seven of them coming in that key third quarter when the Lady Tigers outscored PHS 17-6 to turn that two points deficit at halftime into a 33-23 lead heading into the fourth frame.

Johnson paced Pascagoula with eight points, as Moss Point limited Moore to just those five first quarter points.

Moss Point wrapped up the top seed in the region race earlier in the week with an exciting 38-34 win over home-standing Bay High in the Tigerdome.

Ford dropped in a game-high 17 points in that one, while Johnson chipped in nine points and Kirsten Bailey pulled down seven rebounds in the winning effort.

“I’m extremely proud of these young ladies for getting the number one seed heading into the tournament,” Porter, who guided MPHS to the Class 4A state championship game in 2020, concluded. “They’ve earned it, but we know we haven’t done anything yet. We have to finish the job.”